New Providence council approves consent agenda including $724,452 in bills and multiple grant insertions

The Borough of New Providence approved a consent agenda that included routine bills payable, several grant insertions to the 2026 budget and licensing actions, the council said during its public meeting.

Mayor Alan Morgan and staff outlined a bills-payable list totaling about $724,452.66, with several large line items highlighted by staff including "LiLage Corporation $487,400" for asbestos abatement at the annex and "Horizon Insurance $168,720" for June health insurance. The clerk also noted payments for Suburban Disposal ($50,500), Signal Control ($49,122) for pedestrian-safety upgrades, Collars ($30,736) for Maple Street improvements and other routine items. "Just looking at this list, you could see how much we’re paying just to get rid of our garbage and our grass," a staff speaker said during the review.

The council voted to insert multiple Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) awards into the borough’s 2026 budget, including $56,000 for an ADA-compliant bathroom at the New Providence Police Department and $15,000 for senior citizen public-service and high-risk health-care programs. The council also approved application for $40,000 in Kids Recreation Trust Fund grants to upgrade Veterans Park and Centennial Park with seating, tables and other equipment.

Other consent items included: a resolution adding an additional camp counselor for summer camps (Resolution 225); a management enhancement review grant of $75,000 to evaluate borough operations (Resolution 230); a resolution approving the refund and cancellation of future tax installments for a 100% disabled veteran in the amount of $1,460.32 (Resolution 231); and three liquor-license issuances for the 2026–2027 license year (Resolutions 232–234).

Personnel business on the consent agenda included acceptance of the written resignation of Beth Ki as program coordinator at the Dorso Center, effective Monday, June 29, 2026, and a pending internal transfer of Karen Lambert from recreation to fill the vacancy.

Public safety and emergency-management items were also included in the consent slate: an agreement to provide a Class III SLEO officer for school monitoring and adoption of Union County’s multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan were listed, and staff said they will apply for FEMA grant components to support training, equipment, and a state emergency operations center project.

The full consent slate (items 1–17) passed on a roll-call vote with affirmative votes recorded for Mr. Learner; Miss Dolan; Mrs. Jeffroy; Mr. Kamisky; Mrs. McNite; and Mr. Gardner. The council took no separate roll-call votes on individual resolutions that were contained in the consent agenda.

The meeting closed after the motion for adjournment carried.